The desirability of mounting retractable wheel assemblies onto boats generally is well recognized in the prior art. In particular, applicant is aware of Canadian patent No. 1,332,817 entitled "Retractable Wheels" which issued Nov. 8, 1994 to Royle. Royle discloses a vehicle, depicted to be boat, having a steerable wheel and a mechanism for retracting the wheel into a compartment within the boat. A pair of nose wheels may be extended from a nose wheel compartment so as to bear the forward weight of the amphibious boat. The nose wheels are mounted onto a steering column. The aft of the boat may be supported on a pair of aft mounted laterally spaced apart wheels each retractable into compartments on either side of the aft end of the boat.
Applicant is also aware of U.S. Pat. Nos. 3,858,260, 3,902,741, 4,800,832, 4,588,203, 5,520,138, and 5,632,221, all of which are directed to amphibious vehicles having retractable wheel assemblies or to the retractable assemblies themselves. None of these references teach nor disclose the advantages of the present amphibious craft and related assemblies and in particular, none of them are well adapted for towing at highway speeds when supported by only the amphibious craft wheels. In particular, none of the references incorporate a suspension and locking system which may be Department of Transport approved for use on highways. Consequently, it is an object of the present invention to provide wheel and suspension retractable assemblies which will allow a mid-sized runabout boat to be towed at highway speeds, it not being an object of the present invention to provide an amphibious craft in the sense of being self-powered when on land or self-steerable when on land.